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U.S. History 1877-Present 11.10: Civil Rights for All 34 Views


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Description:

By the mid-20th century, it seems America finally decided to take that whole "and justice for all" thing sort of seriously.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

When the story of the civil rights movement is told most [Notebook titled civil rights movement]

00:07

tend to focus on the African-American struggle for equality. Maybe it's because

00:11

the list of wrongs done to black Americans is so long, or maybe that for [Many pages of a book turn]

00:17

so long they were the largest minority, or maybe it's that they fought so hard

00:21

and so visibly for their place at the American table. While all that's true [Footage of civil rights protesters]

00:26

we've got to give shoutouts to the many other groups who fought tooth and nail

00:29

for their rights. In many ways black Americans paved the way for the civil [Protesters holding up signs]

00:34

rights battles to come and amplified ones that had been going on for a while.

00:38

The mid 20th century had no shortage of groups who were being discriminated

00:42

against. Disenfranchised groups are something we've just never been short on

00:47

because at any point in time we've always had some masters of [Suspicious looking man wearing a 'discrimination' shirt]

00:50

discrimination lurking in shady alleyways. Or if you happen to live in

00:54

the 21st century lurking behind ya know, shady keyboards... Well immigrants, women, Latinos, [Someone typing on a keyboard]

00:59

Asian-Americans, indigenous people, homosexuals, the list is super sad and

01:05

goes on far too long. Well the good news is that all this civil rights

01:09

legislation did cut down on some discrimination and inspired future

01:12

activism. So even though it was Afro-centric it still had benefits for all, [Black Panthers raising their fists]

01:17

and like Santa Claus throwing candy from a parade float the benefits rain down on

01:21

everyone. Take the Voting Rights Act for example, sure it was clearly designed to

01:27

restore voting rights to African-Americans in the south however,

01:30

as a side benefit it also made similar vote nullifying shenanigans against

01:35

Asian American and Latinos illegal. And like the Empire, women were also striking

01:41

back. After the successes of feminism in the 1920s women had lost ground during [Woman hits a man with a walking stick]

01:46

the conservative backlash from 1930 to 1960. They'd gone from freewheeling flappers to [Woman dancing]

01:52

desperate housewives and some weren't feeling too chipper about it. However in [Angry woman in a supermarket hits another man]

01:56

the 1960s women joined in the spirit of social progress, well this new second

02:01

wave of feminism was called uncreatively second wave feminism. Their struggle [Photo of feminist protesters]

02:06

was for equal footing with men in the workplace and in the home. As if that

02:11

wasn't hard enough to achieve they also fought for protections against

02:15

domestic abuse and marital rape as well as the ability to divorce. The days of

02:21

father knows best were numbered. Mexican Americans or Chicanos were also fighting [Old man is tipped out his chair]

02:26

for their rights. Charismatic leaders like Cesar Chavez fought for better

02:30

working conditions and equal treatment for Chicano farmworkers, meanwhile other

02:34

leaders and groups fought for land voting it quality and better schools. [Mix of protest groups holding up signs]

02:39

The civil rights era also saw the snipping of racist immigration policies. The 1965

02:45

Immigration Act got rid of racially motivated immigration quotas that put a

02:49

cap on the number of immigrants allowed into the country based on country of

02:53

origin. And in case anybody missed it country of origin is a not-so-subtle way

02:58

of saying race. Well northern and western European Christians had no quota [Map showing immigration to the U.S. from Britain]

03:02

surprise surprise while Africans, Asians and Latinos had strict quotas. As

03:07

a result of lifting these bans America is becoming more and more diverse by the [Footage of a busy street]

03:10

year. Among the many benefits, how exciting our dinner options have become.

03:14

Indonesian burritos anyone? Yeah, sign us up! [Different types of food laid out on a table]

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